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Monday, June 29, 2009

Mrs. March said, in her serious yet cheery way - 'I want my daughters to be beautiful, accomplished, and good; to be admired, loved, and respected; to have a happy youth, to be well and wisely married, and to lead useful, pleasant lives, with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send.--Louisa May Alcott, "Little Women"

Sunday, June 28, 2009

We've been HOT in Oklahoma the past few days. As in over 100 degrees Fahrenheit hot.

That's just silly.

Thankfully this week we're going to be back into a more normal mid to upper 90s (with Oklahoma humidity levels that's not really a whole lot better, but I'll take it.) For sewing, I've done...

nil.

So...I'm planning a project to get back in the groove. I'm going to give my first Hotpatterns a try, the Riviera Once, Twice, Three Times a T-Shirt. I'll be doing the tie-dye version with the cool ruffly sleeves.

I've never tried HP because I've had a couple of unpleasant run-ins with one-half of the duo, and because of others' poor customer service experiences. However, I'm nothing if not flexible (especially when it comes to cute patterns and inspirational youtube videos.) And I gotta say...Trudy finally won me over with the video segments. She's adorable, and fun, and extremely likable. Sold!

Oh and you know I'll let you know if its a complete bust. Just keepin it real for ya.

ps...computer is D.E.D. Still on borrowed laptop. Bah. Mac, I'm sorry I ever forsook thee. At least one of you out there (are you still out there?? I'm never sure.) would probably argue that point quite eloquently and in a British accent. Good times.

Friday, June 26, 2009

My computer crashed today! Grrr. I was able to save my pictures and important documents (and my music files!) So all is not lost, but one thing I didn't think to grab before the grand death scene was my email settings.

Sooo....if we email, please send me an email me this weekend so I can add you back to my address book! Some of you are on Facebook and I can grab yours there if its listed, but if not please email me! I'm pretty aggravated at myself. I was so smug about "getting everything".

Still not sure whether the old girl is going to survive...the 2nd attempt at operating system install is still in progress (first one was a bust!) I'm on a borrowed laptop in the meantime.

I'm not even exaggerating when I say it took most of the day to save all of my stuff. I'm brain dead!! And what a waste of a day. Boo.

He filled my childhood and teenage years with song. My friends and I spent countless hours trying to perfect our moonwalk, rewinding the Thriller video over and over so we didn't miss a single move... I can't imagine my life without his music in it. Say what you will about his complicated, tabloid-driven life. He was a legend, and that is a tough life to lead.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Just a little blog sprucing up! I've been wanting to go with a "cleaner" white background for a while now. Sometimes I feel like all the busy of my former background and colors took away from some of my photos or projects. Hopefully now we'll see the photos front and center!

Oh, and I never use IE unless I'm watching a Netflix movie, but I did check it in IE to make sure everything showed up just fine. You can let me know if something isn't working on your end though! I don't have another computer readily available to me during the summer to check.

In other summer news...I heard a gosh-awful squealing this afternoon and went out on the front porch to discover this peeking around the corner:

Uh, I live on a farm (nonworking now) but we never had piggies!! Aren't they cute though? Mama Pig was as surprised to see me as I was to see her.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Time difference, altitude, hiking my tushy off. Best time of my LIFE. Oy, I'm tired. But I bring pretties from Arizona!

Note to my dial up friends: This be a picture heavy post (and practically snark-free, cause you know, TIRED.)

Day one: Montezuma's Castle. A seriously cool way to start a vacation.

Just down the road lies Montezuma's Well (note the cliff dwellings along the sides):
Day two: Pink Jeep Tour of Sedona. All I have to say is if you're ever in the area DO THIS. It was so much fun!! And probably the best way to see Sedona (which is just gorgeous!)

After lunch we were still pretty energetic so we decided to trek up to Sunset Crater Volcano & Wupatki National Monument. Here's the volcano as you're driving into the park:

And here are the lava flows (we hiked the "Bonita Lava Flow Trail"). It looks like you're walking on an asteroid!
It was getting late in the afternoon at this point, but we were only 20 miles or so from the Wupatki National Monument so we forged ahead. I was so glad we did! This was spectacular, and easily my favorite of the ruins we saw on our trip. This is the Wukoki Pueblo:

The sun was only about 90 minutes from setting, so the light was interesting (and made it tough to get good shots facing the ruins. But I could pretend I was an artsy photographer!)

And this is the Wupatki Pueblo, with more than 100 rooms!

We were nearly by ourselves at both of these, with only 1 or 2 other cars arriving/leaving during our visit. The pueblos are 20+ miles out into the back country, and there's not an electrical wire or telephone line in site. With the wind blowing through my hair, the complete silence, sun setting, I felt like I'd just stepped right into the past. It was a very odd feeling, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Day 3: The big one, the Grand Canyon!

The canyon was a little hazy, and it was a cloudy day. It even sprinkled on us! But I still got some good shots I think. Me & the G-man at the south rim:

And me & lu:
Day 4: Back in Sedona, we decided to take it "easy", which meant no long car trips! But we couldn't just stay in the hotel either, so we went up the road a ways to Jerome, which (I think) Linda suggested! Jerome is seriously cool, a mining town built right into the side of a mountain. Here's me feeding the mule at the Gold King Mine & Ghost Town (he rings a bell until you feed him.)

Then we traveled down the road a few miles to Prescott to go to "Out of Africa", a drive/walk through safari (Warning...EXPENSIVE! We about croaked at the entrance gate, but we were too hot and tired of the car at this point to turn around and leave, so I just went with it.)

Lots of big cats. Honestly? Probably not worth the money, but we may be spoiled by our really fabulous Tulsa & Oklahoma City zoos. And...we have a wilderness safari a few miles from here at home where you can get in with the baby tigers and bottle feed them/play, etc in the spring. So we're probably biased.

We also stopped by the Tuzigoot National Monument, another ruin. It was my least favorite of the trip. It's been "preserved" a little heavy-handedly (in my opinion) and looks overdone. Some of the masonry has been reinforced with what looks to be concrete mix rather than completely indigenous materials. And I'm sorry, but if its stood there for 1000 years (or near so) before WE found it and started messing with it, why assume current materials are better and longer lasting?

Sorry for the rant. Here's Tuzigoot:

Day 5: Last full day in Arizona! Lu had been waiting all week for this day, because we finally visited the Petrified National Forest & Painted Desert.

The petrified logs were really amazing. I couldn't stop touching them! Of course I had to buy a little piece from the gift shop to bring home. Still amazing to me that it was once part of a tree! And the Painted Desert is BEAUTIFUL!

This is Newspaper Rock, where over 650 petroglyphs have been found:

And here's me, still smiling after traveling for 5 days with an 11 year old and a 14 year old (mostly in a car!):

Two more of the Painted Desert, because I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. It took my breath away...

We're home safe and sound now, doing the drudgery of things like laundry and unpacking. Thank you all so much for the well wishes on our trip! I hope you enjoyed the recap. If you have the chance to visit this beautiful state, I highly recommend it. I would go back in a heartbeat!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Ok, so I should have muslined this one. I knew that, but threw caution to the wind.

Sherrill asked if I graded up, and yes I did (to a 48) but I should have left the yokes at a 46 which is my BWOF neck/shoulder size. Here's the bodice, AFTER I pinned out all the excess in the front neckline:

Ignore all the unpressed glory of this top. I could tell almost immediately I needed more width for the bust area, so I wasn't worried about construction perfection. Plus, after I cut it out I noted that the full design of the top + the Hawaiian-esque Amy Butler print = MuuMuu.

And I typically don't need additional help in that area.

Here's how much I pinned the neckline to make it lay flat:

And here's the back, which needed about twice as much taken out of the neckline.

I think I need to figure out the forward-thrusting neck alteration. I must walk around looking like a goose all the time.

The good news? I really like the yoke shaping! It's very cute. And I love the way the cap sleeve falls just so (when it looks as though there's no sleeve at all.) A word about the sleeve opening...I had to lower it by 1 inch. That was a tiny opening! (I got stuck in the top the first time I tried it on. Not funny. Stop laughing.)

OH! And the BWOF directions? Might as well have been in German for all I got out of the yoke/yoke lining paragraph (yes, paragraph). Made NO sense to me so I'll have to tackle that at a later time (or do something different).

Looks like a cool, cottony top to wear in the hot, Arizona sun next week!!

Attitude of Grattitude Award

I also have very generous, kind and thoughtful readers who deserve a big old thank you!! I've been given the Attitude of Gratitude award by a couple of my fellow sewing bloggers and I want to say I truly appreciate it! Thank you Julia and MaryPat!!

Saturday, June 06, 2009

My boy had an outing with his PaPa (my dad) so Lu & I decided to have an adventure! I love a getting-up-on-Saturday-morning-adventure!!

We decided to visit all the local places we never bother to visit. (Why is that, by the way? There are some seriously cool things I've never even seen within a couple hours of me.) First up, we visited a beautiful waterfall near here, that I haven't been to in years. You have to hike down to the falls, but it's SO worth it!!

Gorgeous, right? Here's another angle:

Isn't that amazing? Wouldn't you love to just dive right in there??! (No swimming allowed, of course.)

Here's me & Lu at the top of the falls (out of breath after we climbed out, ha!) This is our "woohoo we made it to the top" face!

Then we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium. I hate jellies in the ocean. But in the aquarium I'm just really fascinated by their...jelliness.

Best shark tank walk through tube thing ever. We went to the one in Maui too and it's nothing compared to good old OK.

Next, since it was still just midday, we decided to cross T-Town and visit the Zoo! We haven't been since Lu was in the first grade (why, I don't know. I love the zoo!)

I discovered something too. The best part of going to the zoo with a tween is that you don't feel compelled to make a memory out of every single building and exhibit. Been there, done that! So we just concentrated on our favorites! Like the Rain Forest!

Entrance...Poison dart frog. Pretty!

Cute little monkey...

My favorites, the sea lions:

My other favorites, the elephants! I love elephants!!!

I have about 100 other pictures I could share, but these give you an idea of just how great a Saturday with my Lu is. I'm lucky that way.

In sewing news....my 2nd muslin of the shorts fit equally as bad as the first, except in different ways. Grrr. So I cut out a different pattern and I'm going to muslin those tonight/tomorrow. If they work better, I'm just going to transfer the design elements from the NL pattern that I like, i.e. the cuffs.